Four Months
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Spoilers for the season ten finale. There's four months where Rule Twelve doesn't apply to Tony and Ziva. They decide to use that to their advantage. Tony/Ziva


**I don't own NCIS and never will. No copyright infringement intended.**

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After the dust settled, Tony and Ziva met up at his apartment for a movie night. They needed something to do now that they were both unemployed. So they ordered pizza and sat down on his couch while they waited for delivery.

There was a bit of an awkward silence before Ziva spoke. "So, what is our next step going to be?

He shrugged. "I don't know. Guess we'll see what's out there or if we can even get anything." A lot of people knew that they had taken the fall for Gibbs, but that was beside the point because it was official. But he wasn't going to worry about that now because he didn't want to think about it.

She nodded and went to go get the paper plates when the doorbell rang. Tony had just set the box down on the counter when Ziva just stopped and gazed at him. "Tony?"

"Yeah? Why are you staring at me like that?" Tony didn't know why she was looking at him with such intensity, but he was suddenly terrified.

Ziva didn't give him a verbal response. Instead she took several steps until she was right in front of him and then kissed him. She pulled away beaming. "That is why I was staring at you."

"Friends huh?" He was beaming right back, though.

She laughed. "I didn't know how to define us. And we are no longer working together so rule twelve doesn't apply to us. We don't have to worry about how it affects us."

He picked up her hand and grasped it. "Basically, fuck rule twelve because we're not working with Gibbs. I like the way you think, David." Tony couldn't stop grinning and he kissed her again.

After a few minutes, Ziva pulled away. "As much as I would love to continue this, I'm starving and I want to eat the pizza while it's still hot."

He wanted to kiss her some more, but he was starving himself. "Alright, good plan. But we're picking up where we left off after we're done eating."

"I look forward to it." She put several slices on her plate and then followed him back into the living room. They sat down on the couch together, noticeably closer than they had been before. All the earlier awkwardness that had been there between them since after the car accident had dissipated.

After they were finished eating, Tony decided to plow ahead with the conversation they needed to have. "So…"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "So, I'm still terrified that this is going to ruin our friendship. I don't want to lose you. And I'm so sorry I hurt you when Parsons first showed up. I should have told you about Adam."

He waved at that. "We weren't together – yet – so I'm not mad about that. But I'm okay now. We're going to move past it. And we'll see where this leads us."

She leaned in and he pulled her in for a hug before kissing the top of her head. "I like that plan. Do you want to watch this movie? That is why I came over here."

"I actually forgot about that. Well, let's get back to that." He unpaused the movie, never once letting go of her hand. Tony loved Ziva (which he would tell her soon, but now was not the time or the place for that conversation) and he couldn't wait to see where this relationship took them.

Neither one of them paid much attention to the screen, though. They kept sneaking glances at each other before he eventually gave up and shut the movie off. She looked at him in confusion before he helped pull her up and then led her to the bedroom.

Needless to say, Tony and Ziva broke rule twelve many times that night. They met up with McGee, Palmer, Ducky, and Abby at a restaurant the next morning, holding hands. Abby was about to squeal when McGee clapped a hand over her mouth. "Not in here, Abs. Wait until you get back to work or something."

"So it seems like something important has changed between you two," Ducky noticed. He resisted the urge to smile.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, we're giving this thing a shot finally. But we need to talk about Gibbs and what we can do to stop this from happening."

"We can't let this happen. We need to fix this entire situation." She felt guilty again, but that thought was stopped dead in her tracks by Tony squeezing her hand again. She beamed back at him. Abby wanted to hug them both but refrained from doing so. She could do that later once they helped save Gibbs. The team was not going to let this stand.

"You're right. And we're Team Gibbs. We can do anything we set our mind, too." Abby had finally had enough so she got up and hugged them both.

"You're this excited about us?" Ziva didn't know why she was surprised. This was Abby after all.

Abby nodded. "I've been waiting a long time for you two to admit there's something between you. Just sucks that this Parsons thing is what got you two to admit it."

"Actually, it's been building for years and post-elevator us and post-Berlin us just made it possible." He hated that it had taken them this long, but the wait had been worth it. He was now with the woman he loved and she felt the same way (even though they hadn't said it yet) even though their relationship hadn't been defined yet.

"I knew it!" That unexpected outburst came from McGee and everyone at the table stared at him. He got defensive as a result. "What? You don't think I haven't noticed? Tony's practically been begging me to talk to me about it for weeks. I'm just glad it finally happened."

After they ordered, the team finally got down to business and started to talk about what to do with Gibbs. They needed him back.

Four months later, Tony and Ziva were more in love than ever and their relationship was going strong when a call from Gibbs turned everything on its head.

Life was about to change again and the team was about to get back together. Rule twelve would be back in affect, but neither of them worried about that yet. They had more important things on their mind. Tony and Ziva would get through this as a couple and they wouldn't let anything else come between them again. They were past that now, especially since they knew what they wanted.


End file.
